Tampa Bay poised to make noise

Hopes are high around the offices of the Devil Rays heading into spring training.

Is this it? Is this the year the Devil Rays finally
break the magic 70-win barrier? In the six seasons
since they were born the Rays have failed to get that
far in their development. They came close in their
second and third years but backslid to an all-time low
in 2002 with but 55 wins. The arrival of manager Lou
Piniella was expected to usher in a new era that would
help get the team off the mat and they did improve by
eight games last year.

Lou Piniella has the Devil Rays headed in the right direction.

Unfortunately, it still leaves them seven games shy of
70 wins heading into 2004, although optimism reigns
that this is the year they finally break through the
miserable strata and achieve full-blown mediocrity.
Not that there's anything wrong with that. In a
division where two of the teams spend money like
there's no tomorrow, a third spends what it has pretty
wisely and a fourth just made it a goal to land all
manner of expensive free agents, 70 wins would be a
noble purchase for plucky little Tampa Bay.

Mark Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times says that
hopes are high around the offices of the Rays heading
into spring training. "From an organization
standpoint, this might be the biggest one-year leap
we've ever made," general manager Chuck LaMar told
Topkin. "I don't think you could look back since we
began and pick a period where we've made more
improvement in more areas."